family visit from the USA

Jürgen Groth from Friedrichsholm is an engineer by profession and has found family research as his passionate hobby. It concerns both the roots of his own family, as well as the origins of his native village Friedrichsholm. The results will later be incorporated into a village chronicle.

Yesterday seven members of the family Frahm from Colby (Kansas) visited Friedrichsholm, and thus the village of their ancestors: The great-great-great-grandparents Jacob Frahm (1769-1828), married to Magdalena Eggers (1778-1864), were colonists at the colonists’ lot number 18, where today stands the farm of the family Norden, street Schrammoor in Friedrichsholm.

Visitors were Paul and Sharon Steele-Frahm, her brother Kenneth with his wife Sheila Frahm, as well as brother Bruce and wife Janice with their son Karlyn, who held radio contact with a German youth. The great-great- grandparents of the visitors lived in Friedrichsholm.

"We are all farmers, and we are very interested in agriculture," said Bruce Frahm to the hosting family Norden with senior farmer Hans-Juergen and farmer Peter Norden with his partner Ulrike Matthiesen and their four children. At the long kitchen table of the family Norden they discussed predominantly agricultural issues: "In our case the country is very flat. You can’t get along without irrigation with water from the deep, because there is only an average of 50 liters of rain per year.", said Bruce Frahm. They raise corn and wheat, but there’s no livestock farming. The farms in his area are all about 300 acres.

Peter Norden, who operates with another farmer from the village a large pig farm as an additional source of income, doesn’t need to sprinkle the country. "Here it rains enough; the grass for the cattle grows forever." He’s only worried about the constant low producer prices for milk. "It is a very unique feeling to be here on the soil of our ancestors," admitted Bruce Frahm.

Then it was time for departure, because Jürgen Groth, in charge of the itinerary, had even more on the plan. For example, a family photo with the hosts in front of the Christmas tree, and then to the Mary's Church in Hohn, where pastor Andreas Wegenhorst reported interesting things about the Church of the Ancestors. Other attractions were the Kiel Canal and the Rendsburg Transporter Bridge.

The seven family members are guests at Angelika and Jürgen Groth, who where in 2009 guests at Frahms in Colby, Kansas. The connection to the Frahm family came via internet in the course of chronicle work.